248302 Pte. Emmanuel Dart British Army 1st Battalion South Staffordshire Regiment from:Walsall Emmanuel Dart enlisted into the South Staffordshire Regiment on 30th of March 1916, aged 18. He trained with the 3rd Battalion but on being posted to France on 22nd January 1917, he was transferred to the 1st Battalion the next day.
At the end of March 1917, he received a gunshot wound to the back. The Diary of Sister Elsie Tranter in "World War One a History in 100 Stories", an Australian nurse in France, records in her entry for the 3rd April 1917:
"I have in my huts some very young boys, (baby soldiers we call them) Baby 3 is a Staffordshire kid named Dort [sic] with a tremendous wound on his back. When this wound has to be dressed Corporal holds him up in his arms. The poor little chap cries piteously when we go to do him. As soon as they are fit they are evacuated to Blighty to make room for others."
Emmanuel returned to the UK on 7th of April 1917 and was posted to the 3rd Battalion on 12th July. He was deemed unfit for front line duties and transferred to the Royal Defence Corps (service number 63952) on 22nd August. He was medically discharged from the RDC on 17th June 1918.
After the war Emmanuel re-enlisted, into the 19th Essex Regiment (service number 51215), on a short service contract, and was posted to France from 26th August 1919 to 1st April 1920.
Emmanuel appears not to have married, and died following a mining accident at Littleton Colliery, Cannock, on 31st October 1934 aged 38.
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